Aqueous waste streams containing contaminating amounts of organic compounds are generated in a variety of industrial processes, for example, chlorinated hydrocarbon production processes. Before such aqueous wastes can be discharged to a receiving stream, the organics content must be substantially reduced in order to meet local, state and federal pollution standards.
For example, in the production of ethylene dichloride by catalytic vapor phase oxychlorination of ethylene, the gaseous reaction product stream is condensed to form an organic phase containing crude ethylene dichloride and an aqueous phase containing soluble organic contaminants chief among which are chloral and chloral hydrate. Although chloral and chloral hydrate may be decomposed to chloroform by, for example, treatment with sodium hydroxide as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,597, chloroform as well as other organic contaminants, e.g., sodium formate and sodium acetate must be substantially removed before the waste stream can be safely discharged.